Why Real Gamers Should Upgrade to a Xbox One Today

The new console war has barely begun. Despite that, users are already arguing over whether the Xbox One or PS4 is the better console. What gets left in the shuffle is the Xbox 360, or more specifically: why gamers who have a perfectly working Xbox 360 gaming console should upgrade to an Xbox One.

No doubt, some would say that it’s not a necessary upgrade at all, that games are games and since there are plenty of games available on the Xbox 360, it’s worth holding on to. For sure, both of those things are true.

On the other hand, the Xbox One does more than just offer users better graphics. It also offers gamers the chance to ditch the issues that plagued the Xbox 360 gaming experience. Also: users can keep their Xbox 360 around for those older games.

Digital Downloads Mean No More Disc Swapping

Late in the Xbox 360’s lifecycle digital gaming became a thing users wanted. The idea was simple, by installing a game on the console’s hard drive users could speed up loading times on their favorite games. Unfortunately, most Xbox 360 games weren’t available as a digital download on release day. This meant that gamers had to go out and purchase a physical copy of the title. When they did, Xbox 360 users were stuck putting the disc in every time they wanted to play the game – even if it was already installed on the console.

The Xbox One has a pretty fast Blu-ray drive that makes loading a non-issue. Even if it didn’t, games on the Xbox One are available on the same day they’re put on store shelves. Having a digital copy of a game on Xbox One means not having to insert disc when you’re ready to play and avoiding midnight release launches at gaming stores. It also allows for sharing those games more easily with the entire family.

Game Saves Automatically Sync

Game saves are the life blood of any title. In the Xbox 360 Microsoft added the ability for users to manually save games in the cloud. This way, they didn’t have to carry around a flash drive or move a hard drive in between two Xbox 360s. Users loved the feature and it caught on.

The only thing that kept cloud game saving from being amazing was the lack of any actual syncing. Instead of creating game saves and syncing them automatically, the Xbox 360 required users to remember where they’d stored their game save and which was more up to date. The Xbox One solves this problem. Game saves on the Xbox One’s version of Xbox Live are managed by the console itself. Like gamescore or Xbox Live Gold, those saves are available to players on whatever Xbox One they’re logged into. The only catch? Users need an internet connection.

Xbox Live Gold Home

Arguably, the most underrated new feature of the Xbox One is its revamped Xbox Live. In most ways, Xbox Live works the same way it does on the Xbox 360. Users login to share their Gamerscore and play against other Xbox One owners. The key difference between the two is Xbox Live Gold Home.

Xbox Live Gold Home is a really simple feature with an unnecessarily complex name. With the Xbox 360 users have to purchase an Xbox Live Gold subscription for every member of the family who wants to play games online. Xbox Live Gold Home allows users to purchase Xbox Live Gold on just one account and grant those privileges to every other account on their console. It saves families money, plain and simple.

Setting a console as the Home console also means that even when users are logged in on another Xbox One their family still has access to Xbox Live Gold, plus all of their digital games.

A household with two Xbox One consoles can purchase one game, then have family members login on both consoles and compete against each other in the same game. Pulling that off on the Xbox 360 would require two games and two Xbox Live Gold subscriptions. Xbox Live costs users $9.99 a month or $60 a year.

Twitch

Twitch on the Xbox One.

By some estimates, watching others play video games has become a very big deal. In fact, Twitch says 45 million users visit its member’s streams each month.

Microsoft acknowledged how big a deal Twitch streaming had become when it released a Twitch app for Xbox 360. Unfortunately, that first app only let Xbox 360 users watch content being streamed by other people.

The Xbox One version of Twitch is practically baked into the console. Once set up, streaming to Twitch is as simple as starting a game and saying “Xbox, Broadcast.” Instantly, the Xbox One will connect to the Twitch servers and snap a small broadcasting experience to the side of the user’s screen. In that screen users can see comments made by their subscribers as they play. The idea is to create a sense of community and another way for Xbox One owners to game with friends and family.

Of course, there are other small differences between the gaming experience on each console, but those are the big features that should have users upgrading in 2014. That being said, users are going to want new exclusive games for the platform before they make the leap. That’s understandable. Thankfully, Halo 5: The Master Chief Collection, Sunset Overdrive and Assassin’s Creed Unity will all arrive on the console his year, so users will have big, exciting titles sooner than later.

The Xbox One is on store shelves now beginning at $399. The Xbox One at $499 includes a Kinect 2 sensor for motion game, live television and voice commands.

68 Comments

BFking

06/29/2014 at 9:53 am

Xbox one is fantastic…well worth $400 or $500. Multimedia options, snapping sports or movies on screen while playing games and the game offerings are better than any other console on the market. I own the 3 next gen systems between me and my kids…xbox one is my go to choice…its fantastic. Titanfall forza dead rising ryse…the coming forza horizon 2 sunset overdrive halo and the future with halo 5 and gears of war…best console out there.

I don’t agree, sure it’s a great console I actually own it (I own all three) and to be honest. Forza 5 wasn’t that great to me haven’t played DR3 because it’s not my type of zombie game, ryse I’ll get it off my friend but he’s a big Xbox fan and only has Xbox consoles and said that game wasn’t that great. With all those triple A games you failed to mention one of my most exciting game for X1 is Ori and the Blind Forest.

But even after all those games are out they can’t compete with the sheer amount of content playstation will be getting. Sure you can say “You’re only getting DriveClub, LBP3 this year” But you what people don’t see is that 3rd party games indie games will fill that gap. Quantum Dream, Media Molecule, Sony Santa Monica, Guerrilla Games, and a slew of those “1st” party studios are making games still. Uncharted, The Order 1886, Bloodborne, Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, abzu etc etc” MS list of exclusives pales in comparison to Sony’s only because Sony has the most 1st party studios.

Sure Xbox One is a great machine but the Playstation 4 is where gamers that can only get one console this year should be.

Agree ! Cant put titanfall down may be the best multiplayer shooter I have ever played…it never gets old. Started with a PS4 but was dissapointed with it…mainly due to a poor use interface and lack of decent exclusives….traded it in for titanfall bundle. Xbox live dedicated servers also far superior than ps4 online service.

Thanks for the heads up, I bought a 2nd xbox one yesterday so my girlfriend could join me. Do you know if it has to be a digital game or can it be a disc downloaded to both consoles? This is going to save me some much needed $$

Made to watch TV? Based on E3 2014, I’d say that more about ps4. They spent what felt like 30 minutes talking about their Powers TV show. Then some time on their Ratchet and Clank movie. I loved the game, but don’t give a f*** about the movie.

@Kamille, the xbox onr noticeably habe the better exclusives and features but you claim to be a gamer. Gsmers love gears, halo, dead rising, forza, and killer instinct. You cant even name a title thats worth picking ps4 over xbox one. Better hardware with less features, options, and delayed games is what you get with a ps4 at the moment!

Uncharted, Infamous, Ratchet and Clank and Destiny now favoring the Ps4, better graphics more online players by 3.4 million just to name a few, My Console of choice is the WiiU but I also own a Ps4 and it has way more interesting things coming then Halo and Gears.

I haven’t been a fan of the Halo series since the first, but what about Sunset Overdrive? Quantum Break? Crackdown? Forza Horizon? I personally can’t wait for Sunset! I love Insomniac and their zany weapons.

XBL having a more stable and reliable infrastructure is a fallacy. There have been plenty of cases where XBL has been brought down or hacked. When PSN is under maintenance you can still play online games.

Well, if you say I should upgrade to a XBox One, then maybe I should. Or, better still, maybe I should upgrade to AN XBox One. C’mon man…has proofreading totally gone out of style? It’s difficult to overlook errors in a title.

There are so many errors in your article, that It makes me question how true everything else that “I didn’t know” about the xbox one you said, and if it is actually true. (Not claiming it isn’t.. just saying that you DID misinform people a bit) Halo 5 and Halo: The Masterchief Collection are two entirely different games. Halo 5 Multiplayer Beta invite is included with the Masterchief Collection and might not even make a release this year.. (slated for December, but this generation, delays seem to be inevitable).

Both Consoles are great in their own rights this generation.. I own both and I played xbox for awhile up until Respawn’s “Titanfall” got boring for me, and then proceeded to run into some problems..

The article’s posts aren’t valid if you’re making a comparison with the PS4.

1. Digital downloads and digital pre-loading for day 1 releases are available on the PS4. 2. PSN has always had the ability to do cloud saves. 3. Twitch is also available on the PS4 and people have been broadcasting nonstop. It’s seamless and one push of the “Share” button will start broadcasting your gameplay.

Let’s not also forget the advantages of the PS4:

-games look much better on it than on the XBone. -The XBone can hardly do 1080p games. -The hardware on the PS4 is more powerful and ready for future games that demand it. The XBone is already choking on the current games.

Good article with a poor title. Any gamer that can afford it should go ahead and upgrade to the system of their choice. Both new consoles have added features that build on what the last generation offered. Then again, the PS3/Xbox 360 are still going strong so it would not hurt to wait until the fall.

I got the Xb1 in week one but after TitanFall I decided to unload it. TitanFall was nothing close to what we were told it was going to be. “It’ll change everything”, ” The only next gen title”, “It’ll be the Call of Duty killer”. IMO TitanFall was none of those things but my disappointment with TitanFall wasn’t my only issues with the X1. The kinect voice was always a problem and slow dnloads and game loads. At the end of March I had, had enough and sold it and went and got the PS4 and I have had not one issue or complaint… I love it. I still have and love my XB 360 as well. I hope they get all those Xbox One issues fixed.

Why are some of you comparing to PS4? The PS4 was only mentioned in one Sentence and there was no comparison to PS4. It was about upgrading from X360 to X1 and you are arguing that PS4 is much better than X1? You are some of the biggest Idiots of our World and like alle the other stupid PS4 Fanboys. You have no arguments but 1080p because most X1 Games have better detail and effects than PS4. So if you don’ t have to tell sth to the topic just shut the [email protected]!}& up.

Regarding this Article: X1 gets better and better every Month (bought on Day 1) but there ist still not so much arguments over X360. Well not till September when new Consoles get much better Graphics and Games than old Consoles.

On X360 you can have digital Downloads since pretty long time too. Online Sync can be a long time with bad Internet. So just take HDD from X360 can be much easier and faster. With XBox Gold Home i can agree but Twitch is a nice to have but not neccessary since you could do it on X360 too with some more effort. Maybe you could Add to your list: – X1 is much quiter and cooler than X360 and – with Kinect you can now controll all your Entertainment Hardware – Kinect has much better voice recognition – more powerfull Wlan, USB 3.0 etc…

@David You CAN share your games with your gf now. Just set your home console as hers and vice versa. You can share your entire digital library right now. The misinfo about the Game Sharing for PS4 was trolling. Check with MS if you don’t believe me.

I’m not even going to get into that whole “real gamer” thing but I will say this. As someone who games, I want a console that allows my games to be played the best way they can be played, not some “media device” that sacrifices what a game can truly offer.

REAL GAMERS or REAL JOURNALISTS should not choose there consoles if they were a real gamer then they would want them all? utter garage which is the better console as its all subjective. I prefair the playstation but thats more down to the design choices as they are foreign and give me different gameplay experiences than im used to and tbh downright bored off but i was mainly gamed on my xbox last gen though i have 1 of all consoles. That is what a true gamer wants, all of them! I dont consider any1 a “real gamer” that wouldnt want to pick up the other console for their exclusives. REAL GAMERS DO NOT CHOOSE A SINGLE CONSOLE, THEY GOTTA GET EM ALL! /rant over

The real gamers would buy a PC, the person who wrote this article has very little experience in the gaming industry. Seriously, who in their right mind would come up with the title like that. Completely idiotic and not worth reading article.

Agree. Xbox one is the console to have. Some anger from the ps4 owners below. You see…why on earth would you google xbox one to find this article to argue with anger and jealousy. Because that is what the ps4 crazies have been doing since launch to try to influence peoples decisions. They have no decent exclusives…a bankrupt company that is wation $400 million on a completely worthless playstation now….inferior multimedia…1st party studios falling apart due to coming bankruptcy leading to delay after delay…sporadic worthless system updates…inferior online service….controllers that fall apart…poor twitch resolution…no external hard drive options….no User interface customization…cant watch sporting events on screen at same time while playing games….cant sell systems in their home country of japan since the japanese know sony headed to bankruptcy. These are just a few reasons for them googling xbox one articles day after day to write angry jealous lies. It is sad…really sad.

First, “no decent exclusives”…I guess you aren’t counting LBP3, The Last of Us, The Order:1886, Bloodborne, or any of the unannounced exclusives. Sony has, and always will have, more exclusive games than MS. FACT, RIGHT NOW you have over 90 games available to play on PS4 and HALF that on Xbox 1. You can talk about “crappy indies” all you want, but the fact is there are FAR more games RIGHT NOW on PS4.

“Inferior multimedia” True, as far as that goes…but I fixed that with a $35 Chromecast. If I wanted a “multimedia” box, I would have bought one…I bought a GAME CONSOLE.

“a bankrupt company” Sony is nowhere NEAR bankruptcy, with a market cap of $17.5 BILLION Dollars. True, their movie, TV, and computer divisions were dragging them down, but that is being dealt with, the computer division is GONE, and other divisions are being radically restructured. The PLAYSTATION division IS profitable. This is in stark contrast to MS where they are profitable as a COMPANY (thanks to their enterprise and Windows divisions), but consistently LOSING money on Xbox and all other consumer electronics.+

“no external hard drives” Why do you need an external drive when you can replace the internal one?

Bah, I am done. If you can’t see by now that the PS4 has MORE GAMES, MORE POWER, BETTER PERFORMANCE, and more of a chance at a future than the UNDERPOWERED, UNDERSELLING Xbox One that has FEWER GAMES, there is no convincing you.

Have fun in your deluded fanboy reality…everyone else will be paying attention to the FACTS.

“These are just a few reasons for them googling xbox one articles day after day to write angry jealous lies. ”

You are being extremely vague. If there is a specific lie being told (not an opinion, a lie), bring it to the readers’ attention. Don’t just say lies are being told and then not what they are.

And, again, since you’re being so vague, I’m not sure what googled articles you are referring to. As I do have a link above, I will say that it wasn’t googled. I believe a Forbes article about Xbox One’s lack of power had it in the comments section.

But, regardless of whether the material was googled or not, the important question is, is it the truth or a lie? Because my article was quoted straight from a Microsoft developer who stated Microsoft did not target the highest end graphics, I would tend to believe it.

You fans boys are so corny…LOL..The PC is the best for graphics….so we can chill on better hardware…And as a fan of all systems i’m talking since SEGA,NINTENDO,everything..I have played every system.And i can honestly say..As far as counsel’s are concerned..the xbox company has had better exclusive games for the past 10 years…And for online gaming for counsel’s XBOX LIVE is far more better….SONY has better hardware..But The XBOX better games.I would put my money on…”IF you Sony fan boys”had both systems…you would see your PS4 collect dust….Im a big PC gaming fan…and Im telling you what any real gamer see’s…

Seriously…sony may be having more exclusives and all around more games…but 2 things wrong with it…ok thousands. The Dualshock 4’s touchpad is an asshole to use. I tap it and it makes my map go half way across the screen in AC4 Black Flag. Xbox One has way better games. I play Ryse, DR3, Ghosts, etc, and before you say ghosts is a multi-platform game, it glitches more on playstation. Because it’s ported from Xbox.

Fanboys will be fanboys. You silly flag bearers rant about the inadequacies of one side or the other, while the WHOLE industry suffers for the impotence of your convictions. Just admit that both consoles are relatively equal in ability (considering both are specialized computers running proprietary OSs that emulate the software environments game engines run within) and start holding system designers responsible for REAL issues like user privacy, faulty hardware (RROD or YLOD- they both DIED), or system-specific bug testing of games. Arguing over whose hardware is biggest only solves one problem: The thinness of non-gamer busness-types’ wallets. Those slimeballs do not deserve to be getting rich over your fanaticism. They should be quaking in fear that we will tear their towers down for attempting to sell us bum hardware, or offering us extortionistic DLC. No brothers and sisters. Stop accusing each other of grandstanding and lies, and look to those who gain from our loss. Offering us low-end, first-run designs at designer drug prices? They should pay US to beta test their experimental consoles with our precious save data, personal info, and our valuable time! THESE are our enemies. THESE are the ones we should starve out. THESE are the non-gaming nothings of the “real” world.

Stand up and hold your money tightly: Wh0res only know the pain of the unpaid.

I am FAR from a “fanboy”, and I owned both a 360 and a PS3 last gen. I base my purchases on logic…what do I get for my money spent?

First of all…I find it incredibly galling that you compare the “YLOD” failures of the PS3 to the “RROD” failures of the 360! The 360 had the HIGHEST FAILURE RATE of ANY consumer electronics device, EVER! To say “they both failed” is to not only ignore the fact that Microsoft released a truly defective design, but to minimize the poor way in which they handled the entire situation. It also ignores the fact that their sales numbers for the entire generation are HIGHLY skewed because most of their customers (including myself) replaced MULTIPLE defective consoles (I went through 3 defective units, all replaced at MY expense!).

This generation, I took a look at both offerings. I initially planned to again purchase both consoles. Then E3 2013 happened. After seeing what Microsoft’s “grand vision” was, I decided to purchase a PS4 and skip the XBox One. Even after all of the “180s” MS did to try and recover, it’s still obvious what they want…they want to be the gatekeeper for all of your online entertainment. Well, I neither want, nor need a gatekeeper! I don’t need or want to funnel all of my online activity through ONE corporation. I neither want nor need someone else keeping track of my viewing habits, web surfing, search engine queries, video calls, the games I play, the LOGOS ON MY COFFEE TABLE (MS patented this, go look), the number of people watching a movie (so they can charge more per views…another MS patent)….the list goes on and on.

All I want is a console that plays games better than my old consoles. I found this in the PS4, and my Vita.

Until and unless MS changes direction (completely), I will continue to avoid their products. More, I will actively encourage others to do the same. I want no part in the “future” MS envisions for all of us, and I will do what little I can to help others avoid it as well.

This is not about being a “fanboy”…this is about the rejection of corporate greed and control.

aside from the hardware failures, the gatekeeper thing is still on for BOTH CONSOLES. games that have a online feature most likely need you to be signed in to the PSN or XBL, and as it is its ALL the GAMES, if you are not signed in you won’t get to play some games at all ( and the truth is you will get bootet out of the online games on the ps4 more often because the psn erratically kicks you out as it happened to be since ps3 on defiance, dc universe and this still continues on the ps4 with dc universe, warframe and a lot of more games that are multiplayer oriented. so far i didnt get booted that often out of a multiplayer game on XBL strange as that is.

XB1/PS4 both are good consoles games and online services are arguable. both consoles have their exclusives. depending on your region where you live and the isp you have you will have some preferences to the console and online service attached to that. (example: australia there is a isp named iinet it has a service called the freezone where xblive content doesnt get counted toward the monthly data allowance making the xb360/xb1 the better choice with the games having some 2/4/8 GB patch downloads whereas the psn contend still is counted as it does not have a fixed dns for content) since before launch the psn has been at most a love/hate relationship with a good amount of users with its psn sign in errors or boot out of the games because of psn connection issues. both consoles had from launch been missing features that were promised but those are getting fixed with patches the xbox1 being the console where those features are faster being implemented then the ps4. one feature we will not be seeing on the ps4 that the xb1 has since the june update is the external storage usage for gaming so that running out of space is not an issue for the xb1 but for the ps4 that still is. just a comparison max internal hdd space for the ps4 can be upgraded to 2TB at the moment. the internal for the xb1 is fixed at 500gb, but with the external storage option it is currently possible to have 16TB attached to the XB1 so users who opt for a digital gaming library would have more fun on that console. as this will never happen on the ps4 as a sony ceo had tweeted that external storage will never come to the ps4. the lack of indie games on the xb1 has been staggeringly clear why it was so, that policy had been to some degree revised so the xb1 should be seeing some more indie games soon. and yes i have both consoles. i currently love to play more on the xb1 more so because of my isp not counting the traffic at all. and i dont give a shit about the graphics you honestly dont need those resolution things if you really are a gamer this didnt affect be since playing on ATARI and all the other consoles until now. so now we will have to wait game and see how the companys will do the next 2/3 years. oh and a lot of (exclusive) games on both platforms are only “timed” exclusive games.meaning you will see those on the other platform given a year or something. bext example would be plants vs zombies garden warfare thats coming to the ps4 soon and warframe coming to the xb1 soon. oh well i could go on and on and on…. have fun